Cisco Webex supports hybrid work with new collaboration capabilities

To further support hybrid workers, Cisco Webex is rolling out major updates to its Webex suite, including new features for flexible working, a partnership with Microsoft, a brand new whiteboard app, and features that help improve security and manageability.

The new capabilities were announced Tuesday at WebexOne’s annual conference. Speaking at a media roundtable, Jitu Patel, general manager of security and collaboration at Cisco, said that despite the fact that most companies have been operating in hybrid mode for a long time, there is still a frequent disconnection problem that arises without being in the same physical space as your colleagues.

“The reality is that this problem cannot be solved in isolation,” he said. “It’s no longer just a technical problem, it has a cultural aspect.”

While workers need to be aware of how they behave and interact with each other in hybrid meetings for remote and on-premise staff, Patel said organizations also need to be aware that there is a space and room configuration aspect to addressing this issue.

“What we’ve seen is that this requires a holistic solution,” Patel said.

Rethinking the workspace

Most of the new capabilities that Cisco has added to its Webex platform fall under the umbrella of what the company describes as “reimagining” the workplace.

Although hybrid and remote work models have become firmly established as the established way of working, an Frost & Sullivan October 2022 Report looking at the state of the global market for video conferencing devices, it was found that only 6.4% of meeting rooms and classrooms have a video connection.

To overcome this lack of deployment, Cisco has created a number of partnerships and is offering new capabilities to help video interoperability and make meetings more seamless. For example, iPhone and iPad users can now share content from their rear or front-facing cameras through the Webex Meetings app and comment on what they see using Mobile Camera Share.

Other announcements include the new Cisco Room Kit EQ—an AI-a computing-based device that delivers an enhanced meeting experience by creating video in large spaces for inclusive hybrid work.

The company also announced a new Hybrid Workspace Design Guide to help customers design the next generation of hybrid workplaces. Encompassing Cisco smart building solutions such as collaboration, networking and security technologies, it also offers built-in camera and audio. In addition, Webex Control Hub is now integrated with Cisco Spaces, providing employees with critical information such as real-time occupancy and air quality updates designed to improve office performance.

Elsewhere, updates to Webex Events and Webinars will give users access to a virtual lobby for online events that will support a variety of settings for agendas, speaker bios, and sponsors. New content widgets and production tools have also been introduced.

Finally, a new partnership with Microsoft allows users to use the Microsoft Teams Rooms feature on Cisco collaboration devices, while an update to Webex Calling includes new integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to seamlessly make enterprise-grade Webex calls from within the Teams interface.

Patel compared the video conferencing sector to the growing entertainment market, as employees often have different platforms for collaboration to meet different needs, just as the many streaming services currently available to customers offer something unique.

By making Microsoft Teams Rooms available initially on Cisco devices, the company is trying to take the stress out of constantly switching between platforms.

“Microsoft Teams actually improves when used on Cisco devices because you can get all the benefits [Cisco’s AI] opportunities,” Patel said.

A completely new digital whiteboard solution

Cisco Webex has long provided users with a basic in-meeting whiteboarding tool that helps increase collaboration. However, on Tuesday the company announced the launch of its new Webex Whiteboard app, a standalone tool that will be part of the Webex Suite and can be used inside and outside of Webex meetings.

Speaking to customers, Abhay Kulkarni, general manager of the Webex application in Cisco’s collaboration group, said one of the things that is most often missing is the ability to brainstorm with people on the go.

“It’s really important to have tools available that allow you to use the whiteboard from anywhere, whether you’re using a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone,” he said.

While Cisco also works with third-party board vendors such as Miro and Murel, Kulkarni explained that the company wanted to continue to develop its own board innovations that facilitate the type it can inspire impromptu collaborations is an important use case that Cisco wanted to help solve.

The new whiteboard app will be available to customers from November 2022.

With the new Webex Whiteboard app in the Webex Suite, users can launch or join a whiteboard from a browser, Webex app, or Cisco device. Boards can be combined with Slido polls, and stored and shared in a Webex space for asynchronous and collaborative work.

By offering users new and improved whiteboarding experiences, Cisco Webex goes above and beyond asynchronous Vidcast tool publicly available. Launched last year, the company has saved users 47 million meeting minutes.

More than 40 new innovations for the tool were also announced, including AI-powered editing that reduces the time it takes to create content, and Slido integration that includes polling and audience engagement for shared video content.

Safe by design

The final set of announcements from Cisco Webex is driven by the principle of the first product: “To be secure by design and private by default.”

As such, Kulkarni said the platform’s new security updates help ensure efficient and secure deployment, optimization and monitoring of IT operations.

Cisco Webex’s new audio watermarking capability uniquely tags audio streams for each confidential meeting participant with a marker that cannot be heard by the human ear, so leaked recordings can be traced back to whoever released them. The idea is to enable organizations to better protect intellectual property in today’s hybrid world with more dispersed and remote teams.

In addition, the new Control Hub as a Coach feature offers Cisco Webex customers a digital coach that guides IT administrators to achieve best practices for configuration, adoption, and efficiency for managing and supporting employees.